chickpeas and dogs

Chickpeas, lemon juice, and olive oil. Recently, Israel is trying to claim that they are the inventors of the traditional middle eastern dish hummus. As a rebuttal Lebanon is fighting to set the record straight. According to BBC, there is "gastronomic war" between the countries to prove who created the first dish. Lebanon has been finding old chefs from around the country to record their first encounters with seeing the dish. One Lebanese chef claims to have seen hummus "way before the 1930s". However, the word hummus wasnt noted in the Oxford Dictionary until 1955 (not that it even matters.. but just gives you a time perspective for how long the western culture

has been familiar with the dish). Why is this such a big deal? According to some food expert in Lebanon the country will loose "billions of dollars" if they cant prove they were the creators. How accurate is this? I dont really know. I mean if you are a current customer and you like how the food tastes why would you change your mind over a fact like that. I understand the country wants to defend its roots and preserve its culture.. which is fine. But why does everything have to be so political! Even food. Geez.

According to BBC, Lebanon is trying to proove the same claim with tabbouleh (a levatine arab dish that includes bulgur, parsely, mint, tamatoe, scallions, and other herbs).

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The Holidays: Ive been hanging out with my sister's inlaws for the last 4 days in Long Island, NY. I've been having a great time, but they have two really vicious dogs that have been scaring the crap out of me. In order to have full mobility around the house one needs to first be"formally" introduced to the dogs. Raju (nick named Raj) and Goby (meaning califlower in Malliali) work together to check out everyone in the house. Raj is a German Sheppard. Not only is it a German Shepard, but he is much bigger than other dogs in his bread. For those of
you who dont know, the police force uses German Sheppards for when they chasing criminals. So as you can assume, they are energic, aggressive, and very large. In order to be "formally" introduced to Raj you have to throw his baseball 5-10 times while calling his name so that he can become familiar with your voice. The tricky thing is he drops it infront of you and you have to bend your head underneath his head in order to pick it up.

You feel very vulnerable when your head is underneath his.Trust me if anyone saw this dog (which I consider a mini horse for a toddler) they would be just as freaked out. One look at his teeth and you would be walking. Between the slobber, butt sniffing and wet fur rubbed on my leg I finally got through to this dog. Yuk! :/

Not exactly what Im used to at home.

Just to not completely bash the german shephard fans out there.. I will admit the dogs are cute when they are puppies.